Rachel Lee and Natalie Senft, two sophomore business administration majors specializing in marketing, were sitting in their ITEC-320 class earlier this semester, having what Senft referred to as a “casual” conversation about their passions for fashion, when their idea to create Revolution: The AU Fashion Society was born.
“We were just talking and I was like, ‘You know, I would love to bring back the fashion club,’” Lee said.
Senft remembered cutting Lee off and telling her that she has been wanting to bring back the club as well. After she learned that the previous fashion club on campus did not renew their license and went inactive, she began thinking about wanting to start up a new one. The pair then made plans to meet up a few days later at The Bridge to go over logistics and ideas. From there, the whole process “snowballed,” Lee described.
According to Lee, Revolution: The AU Fashion Society, which officially became a club on Nov. 8, will focus on the intersection of business and the fashion industry, but it is a club for more than just business majors. It’s also for people interested in fashion as a hobby.
“We want to expose students to potential careers in the fashion industry,” Lee said. “We want to have speakers and panelists come, successful people who work in the industry, tell us how they got there, and tell us how we could get there, too.”
Senft believes people joining a new club like Revolution gives them the opportunity to influence the club’s creation.
“Since it’s in its beginning stages, the people who join now can really help form and mold the club to what they want it to be,” Senft said.
With their eagerness to start a new club, the two began to plan with each other and their faculty advisor, the program director for the business and entertainment program department of management, professor John Simson.
The two friends went into first-year business courses to talk about the club and get emails of people who were interested. They also held an interest meeting for the club in early October. These efforts, combined with other forms of outreach, have garnered over 100 emails on their mailing list, and it continues to grow.
Before Senft and Lee started the process of creating this club together, they both had separate fashion journeys.
When Senft was younger, she sewed, ran her own fashion blog and was a Nordstrom ambassador for two years. She came to campus her first year and asked how she could get more information on the old fashion club. Lee was also interested in joining the old fashion club during her first year before she learned that it was inactive.
“I just like clothing and styling outfits. I’m not as qualified as her,” Lee said as she referenced Senft’s history. Senft reassured that Lee is also very qualified.
Lee had her own “eureka” moment about Revolution this past summer. She drafted a proposal for creating the fashion club and was prepared to start the club creation process when she returned. Once she was on campus, however, she was nervous and abandoned it.
“It was daunting at first,” Lee said. “I was like, ‘Who do I talk to? How do I start? Is there even any interest?’ So, that’s why it really helps to do it with someone else.”
According to the two, their friendship made the club creation process easy. The two joked that they are each other’s top contacts in their phones, and they text each other about the club all the time.
“If we didn’t work well together, that would be difficult,” Lee said. “In my head, I always think about how lucky we got.”
Revolution will begin general body meetings during the spring 2020 semester.
Revolution: The AU Fashion Society has pages on Instagram and Facebook and students can sign up for their email list here.
